Out of Adversity

Deserted and alone on a Belgian battlefield in World War One, two British soldiers are the only ones left alive from an entire platoon. Stranded with only a stolen German grenade to defend them, petty bickering breaks out between them. Private Cavendish is middle-class, detached, and seemingly aloof – just the kind of person who gets up the nose of Private Sid Rudge. The Cockney has no time for Cavendish's type, and the feeling is mutual. The two almost come to blows before a nearby bomb detonation causes them to take cover. The realisation that they could have died starts to thaw the animosity between them, and they share a cigarette and even stories of the girls they left behind. They are overjoyed when a British voice blares out from above ground. It appears that they are saved. This optimism is brief, and a single shot sounds out before the dastardly figure of a smirking German soldier appears above, on the edge of the trench, rifle pointed at the Brits. Faced with certain death, they make the ultimate sacrifice and use their only weapon to stop the German in his tracks.